Two wildfires forced more than 1,000 people from their homes in southeastern Georgia and threatened the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, one of the nation's best-preserved wetland areas, officials said Wednesday. Residents had been evacuated from homes in the Waycross area since Monday and were still out Wednesday afternoon, said Eric Mosley, spokesman for the Georgia Forestry Commission. Classes at Waycross schools were canceled, and the private Okefenokee Swamp Park was evacuated and its animals moved to safety. The larger blaze, which had burned about 40 square miles, or 25,000 acres, ignited Monday near Waycross when a tree fell on a power line, then raced through tinder-dry forest to the refuge, officials said. ... http://abcnews.go.com

President Bush warned Sudan's president on Wednesday that he has one last chance to stop violence in Darfur or else the United States will impose sanctions and consider other punitive options.Bush said he has decided to give U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon more time to pursue diplomacy with Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir but made clear in a speech at the U.S. Holocaust Museum that his patience is limited."President Bashir should take the last chance by responding to the secretary general's efforts and to meet the just demands of the international community," Bush said.Bush raised the possibility of an international no-fly zone aimed at preventing Sudan's military aircraft from flying over Darfur. He accused the Sudanese of painting military planes white to disguise them as United Nations or African Union aircraft....http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/04/18/bush.sudan.reut/index.html?eref=rss_world

Argentina was today accused of laying economic siege to the Falkland Islands and having "colonialist aspirations" towards the British overseas territory. A leading member of the Falkland Islands government, Mike Summers, told a business forum in London that relations with Argentina had deteriorated significantly to the extent that deliberate efforts were being made to damage the islands' economy. He said the Falklands government was seeking to amend the constitution to strengthen the principle of self-determination for the islanders and head off any future attempts by Argentina to reclaim the territory. "Argentina has attempted to disrupt trade through denial of over-flight rights for charter flights supporting the tourist industry and by passing new laws to make it illegal for foreign companies fishing in Argentina to also fish in Falklands waters," he said....http://www.guardian.co.uk/falklands/story/0,,2060234,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12

Russian lawmakers on Wednesday endorsed new restrictions on political extremism that will toughen punishments and could make it easier for the Kremlin to apply the rules to its opponents. As parliament's lower house voted, a court considered a request from authorities to label an increasingly vocal opposition group as extremist. The moves follow police crackdowns on opposition demonstrations in Moscow and St. Petersburg and signaled President Vladimir Putin's determination to control dissent in the run-up to parliamentary elections in December and a presidential ballot next March. The State Duma voted unanimously to allow up to three years' imprisonment for vandalism motivated by politics or ideology. The loose wording of the measure could allow authorities to punish any participants in an opposition protest if violence erupted....http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3053148

Utility crews cut their way through downed trees Wednesday to restore service to thousands of customers still without power since the huge weekend storm battered the East Coast.Communities from New Jersey to Maine were still coping with stream flooding caused by the storm, which dumped more than 8 inches of rain in places, along with coastal flooding brought on by astronomical high tides and heavy surf.Seventeen deaths were blamed on the weather system.More than 50,000 businesses and residences remained without power Wednesday in Maine, where Central Maine Power Co. was being helped by repair crews from neighboring New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and as far away as Pennsylvania.Utility officials warned that some people might be without power until the end of the week."It's a huge number of trees that are down, so it's a big job cutting those away," said CMP spokesman John Carroll. "Plus there are 250 broken poles. That's an enormous number of poles."...http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,266703,00.html

Mortar fire killed three people and wounded six in the Somali capital Wednesday after a night of street fighting left at least 11 people dead and dozens injured, witnesses and health officials said.Fadumo Muyadin, a schoolteacher, told The Associated Press that she saw two women and one man dead when she went to see whether victims of the attack in the northern part of Mogadishu needed help. She said she drove some of the wounded to a hospital.It was not clear who fired the mortars, witnesses said.The fighting late Tuesday in northern and southern neighborhoods between Ethiopian troops backing Somalia's fragile interim government and insurgents could be heard for miles. It was unclear what started the shooting....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,266782,00.html